Dreaming of Dragons
by luvscharlie
Summary: His first meeting with a dragon sets the course of Charlie Weasley's life. A part of my We Start and End with Family Verse, set many years earlier, but it can be read alone


_A/N: This is a part of the We Start and End with Family Universe, set many years earlier. However, it can be read as a stand alone fic._

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_"May dragons take flight in your dreams tonight."-_ Author Unknown

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Four-year-old Charlie Weasley came running through the kitchen. Honestly, Molly thought, did that child know any speed that wasn't breakneck?

"Mummy, Mummy," he said, lip quivering. "Bill taked my dwagon egg and smashed it."

"No, darling," Molly corrected, "Bill _took_ your dragon egg." The dragon egg happened to be a small, blue rock that Charlie had taken to carrying most everywhere he went in the past week. She was frankly surprised it had survived being lost. Most things failed to hold his attention for any notable length of time.

"Yep," Charlie said, nodding his head vigorously, as though glad she understood. "Do somefing." He stamped his small foot in impatience.

About that time, Percy cried out from his crib, and Molly shot Arthur a pointed look over her shoulder. "Do you think you might stop reading that paper and help me out a bit?"

"Of course," he said with a lopsided grin, straightening his spectacles and chucking Charlie under the chin. "Come on, Charlie. Let's go see about your rock—erm, egg."

"Finawee," Charlie said, his patience clearly tested.

Molly came back to the kitchen with Percy cradled in her arms. She laid him in his pram and turned toward the commotion coming through the door.

"I told you I didn't smash your dumb old egg," said Bill.

"You did, too. You sitted your big bum on him. He might have gotten hurt with a bum as big as yours," Charlie said, sticking out his tongue at Bill.

"Now boys," Molly said turning. She stopped short. What Arthur held made her gasp and run to retrieve her infant from the pram. "What in Merlin's name is _that_?!"

"A baby dwagon. Can I keep him, Mummy? Pweeze." Charlie looked at his mother with pleading eyes.

Arthur set the little beast down on the table as it snorted puffs of smoke from its nose, tossed some floo powder into the fireplace and stuck his head inside. Charlie ran to cradle "the little beast," as she'd come to think of it, in his arms, but she was too quick. She wrestled Charlie up in her free arm and held tight despite his attempts to escape.

"Mum!" he protested loudly. "I wanna pway wiff Puffy."

"Dad says he's not big enough to hurt him yet, Mum," said Bill.

She was taking no chances.

Arthur removed his head from the fireplace.

"You let him name it?" she accused.

Arthur ducked his head. "Well, we have to call it something," he said under his breath.

"Oh, we most certainly do not!" Molly was the one stamping her foot this time. "You take that beast out of here."

Charlie kicked his way free despite her desperate attempts to hang onto him and ran to Arthur. "Can I keep him, Daddy? What did they say?"

Arthur tousled the boy's curls. "Charlie," he said, "Puffy's—erm, the dragon—" He looked over at Molly nervously. "Well, Charlie, dragons belong on a reserve, where they can be taken care of by people who know what's best for them."

"I'm his mummy," Charlie said. "I taked care of him when he was an egglet."

"Charlie's a girl," Bill chanted.

Charlie turned his most fierce scowl on Bill and kicked him hard in the shin.

"OW!" Bill shrieked.

"Now, now," Arthur said, lifting Charlie off the ground. "That'll be enough of that." He tried a different approach. "Charlie, son, if Puffy—the dragon—stays here with us, he'll die."

"He most certainly will," Molly said under her breath.

"You don't want that, do you?"

Charlie's brow furrowed. He was clearly struggling with his desire to keep his newfound pet and his concern for the dragon's well-being. "No," he said, in his tiny voice, all bravado gone. "I don't want Puffy to die." A tear slipped from the corner of his eye and he wiped it away quickly before Bill could see it.

About that time, a burly wizard exited their fireplace with a cage in hand.

"Hello, Drake," Arthur said, shaking Drake O'Riley's large hand.

"Arthur," he said with a nod.

"Drake, meet my son, Charlie."

"So you're the one who found this little guy?"

"He was my egglet," Charlie said, sniffling. "His name is Puffy."

"Well, Charlie," Drake said, squatting down to the child's level, "I reckoned you and your Dad might want to come with me to see that this little guy gets good and settled into his new home."

Charlie's gasp filled the room and he looked at Arthur with huge eyes. "Can we, Daddy?"

"I don't see why not," Arthur said, looking at Molly to gauge her reaction.

She gave him a reluctant nod. It was clear how much this meant to Charlie, and as long as Arthur would be with him, she was fairly certain it would be okay.

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She was wide awake and staring at the dark ceiling when Arthur entered their room and began to undress. She waited for him to climb beneath the covers beside her before speaking.

"So, how did it go?"

"That boy's eyes may never again be normal size." Arthur said with a chuckle.

"That well, huh?"

"Yes. I'm sure he will spare you no detail in the morning. He was asleep before his head touched the pillow tonight."

"Dreaming of dragons, no doubt."

"No doubt," Arthur agreed.

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Thirteen years later, standing at Platform Nine and Three-quarters, Charlie Weasley, took another step toward living out that dream as he boarded a train bound for Romania.

~Fin.~


End file.
